


The Enigmatic Death of Jason Todd

by Origamidragons



Series: Buzzfeed Unsolved: Fiction Edition [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Conspiracy Theories, Gen, Humor, POV Outsider, Social Media, Trying to make sense of canon events from the outside
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 16:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15343533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Origamidragons/pseuds/Origamidragons
Summary: “This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved we’re discussing one of the most publicized mysteries of the last decade, and that is the death of Jason Todd.”





	The Enigmatic Death of Jason Todd

**Buzzfeed Unsolved - True Crime** S4 • E6  
_The Enigmatic Death of Jason Todd_

As always, the episode opens with the sound of a siren in the far distance and the noise of glass shattering as a swinging lightbulb illuminates the name of the show: _Unsolved._

“This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved we’re discussing one of the most publicized mysteries of the last decade, and that is the death of Jason Todd. This case is interesting because, unlike many of the mysteries we investigate, there _was_ an official story announced, but enough people, including myself, find it unconvincing that it’s only prompted further speculation.”

“Wait,” Shane broke in, twisting in his chair to stare incredulously at Ryan. “You’re telling me that this _unsolved_ mystery... has been solved? Well, what the hell are we doing here then?” 

“Well- because the official explanation is bullshit, that’s why.” Ryan paused a moment, like something had just occurred to him, before quickly turning and addressing the camera, fear in his eyes. “Uh, no offense, Bruce Wayne, please don’t sue us.”

“Do you think he would?”

“He _could_ ,” Ryan said, grimacing. “Anyways, before we get started I’d like to warn our viewers that this isn’t a fun case. This video will be dealing with some pretty heavy topics. With that said, let’s talk about Jason Todd.” 

With that, the video smoothly transitioned into narration over graphics, illustrating Ryan’s words. The first to appear was a picture of a sullen-looking boy in an expensive suit, probably around thirteen, half-turned away from the camera.

“Not much is known about Jason Todd’s early life. As an adoptee of Bruce Wayne, the richest man in Gotham City, tabloid stories about him ran rampant in the months following his adoption, while credible information is scarce. What we do know: Todd spent a significant period prior to his adoption by Bruce Wayne living alone on the streets of Gotham, one of the most crime-ridden cities in America. This experience ended up shaping much of his later life. According to an interview Wayne gave in 2004, he first encountered Todd when he found him stealing his tires.” 

_(cackle-wheeze)_

_ahahahahahahaha_

_what must that have been like? like you’re lifting the tires off of some expensive car, when suddenly the owner comes out and not only is it_ the _richest guy in your city, but he wants to_ adopt _you_

_”sir, i think you might be confused, i’m stealing from you”_

_”i know, you’re my son now and i’m grounding you for that”_

_(wheeze)_

“By December of 2003, Jason Todd was officially adopted as a member of the Wayne family. He was Bruce Wayne’s second adopted son, after Richard Grayson was adopted three years earlier. However, while Grayson took well to the limelight that came with being the child of the richest man in Gotham, Todd didn’t. He made only three public appearances in the first year after his adoption, and all available photos from those events show him looking uncomfortable and stressed.” 

_so this homeless kid is suddenly catapulted into this, like, dazzling life of fame and fortune with paparazzi crawling down his back_

_yeah_

_i mean... i think i’d be freaking out too_

“Wayne did his best to protect Jason from invasions of privacy, and even homeschooled him, but there was at least one instance of a reporter getting arrested for trespassing on the Wayne Manor grounds in hopes of getting an exclusive interview with Todd.”

_wait, wait, how old was he?_

_uh, at this point he was thirteen_

_jesus christ_

“About two years after his adoption, on October 13th, 2005, Jason makes a sudden trip to Ethiopia with his adoptive father, ostensibly to aid the Wayne Foundation’s humanitarian efforts there. He spends several days working with a refugee relief program before suddenly going missing. According to Bruce Wayne’s testimony to police, he found a ransom note in his hotel room with orders to deliver an undisclosed sum of money to a warehouse on the edge of town. However, Wayne was either unable or unwilling to produce the money in time, and the warehouse was blown up with Todd inside. That’s the official story.” 

Shane pushed his chair back and stood. “Well, that was easy, nicely done Ryan, we’ll be back next week, comment down below what unso-”

“Sit back down, I’m not done yet.” 

“Sounds done to me!” Shane protested, but sat regardless. The narration resumed.

“However, there are some serious unanswered questions left by this explanation of events, starting with the body. No photos of the body or information about the cause of death were ever released to the public, and the funeral was closed-casket and a private event, but a copy of the autopsy report was leaked several months after Jason’s death indicated that the body showed signs of having been savagely beaten with some sort of blunt instrument before death, with broken ribs, jaw, and pelvis.” 

_i don’t like this case_

_it’s an ugly story. but, uh, my question is this- if you’re holding someone for ransom, right, and you’re expecting to trade them for a lot of money-_

_why would you beat the shit out of them?_

_yeah_

“Another strange fact is that Amula Teferi, one of the first responders on the scene, claimed for several years that there were actually two bodies found in the wreckage- both Todd and a middle-aged woman who was never identified. No mention of this woman or Todd’s premortem injuries appears in any official news reports about the explosion, which leaves two options: either both of these sources are incorrect... or someone had a reason for a cover-up.” 

_i want you to think real long and hard about this, ryan_

_it is more plausible that there was a this, uh, this huge conspiracy censoring the media and hiding bodies, or that both of these unverified sources are wrong_

_i- okay_

“Now that we’ve covered both the official version of the story and some of the problems with it, let’s get into a few alternate theories.”

_whenever you say ‘alternate theories’ instead of just ‘theories’ i- i know i’m going to hate it_

“Our first theory is that, instead of being victim to a botched ransom attempt, Todd was instead the victim of a terrorist attack focused on intimidating the Wayne Foundation out of the Middle East. There was a separatist terrorist cell known as the Faithful operating in Ethiopia and Somalia at that time, and a lot of the Wayne Foundation’s efforts were specifically focused on aiding refugees of their attacks and helping them to rebuild. Intimidating Wayne out of the country would therefore be a priority.”

_i gotta say, i do think this is a flawed bit of logic-_

_that’s my line_

_(wheeze)_

_-because, uh, just because “i want this person to leave me alone so i’ll kill his loved ones” isn’t a very good plan_

“If this theory were true, it would give us a reason for the cover-up- to protect the details of what would obviously have to be a very secretive investigation into the activities of this terrorist group.”

“Our second and final alternate theory is that Jason Todd is, in fact, still alive.” 

_if bruce wayne does sue you for this, i’m- pretty sure you can’t use buzzfeed’s lawyers_

_oh, fuck off_

“As evidence for this theory, I’d like to remind everyone that no photographs were taken of Todd’s dead body after the explosion, and the funeral was closed-casket, so nobody saw the body then either. Theoretically, that means there could never have been a body at all. It’s been well-documented that Todd didn’t adjust well to his sudden fame and fortune, and the accompanying loss of privacy. Maybe he faked his death in order to escape it, and return to anonymity. It’s even possible that Wayne, who would certainly have the power to silence any witnesses, aided him in this endeavor. Maybe the entire crime scene was faked, or maybe an injured Todd saw his chance to disappear and took it.”

“This could also explain Todd’s sudden trip to Ethiopia, which according to Wayne Foundation’s records was previously unplanned. In Ethiopia, Todd would have had the freedom from the press that he would need to pull something like this off, which he would not have in Gotham.”

“Theories about an adult Jason Todd, who would now be in his late twenties, and where he would be now vary wildly across the internet. Some have even suggested any of a number of masked vigilantes might secretly be Todd, ranging from The Question to Red Hood. Theories generally agree, however, that if he had survived, he would have returned to Gotham, his home city. Interestingly, two years ago a set of photos taken in a Gotham City Waffle House surfaced of a man with black hair and a stripe of white who bore a distinct resemblance to aged-up photos of Jason Todd.”

_i’m not sold on this one. I think this is like the, uh, what’s it called, the Gordian knot_

_super complicated knot, nobody can untie it, until one day some guy just pulls a sword and slices it in half_

_and the moral of the story is that the correct answer is usually the simplest one_

_oh, come on_

_i think bruce wayne’s telling the truth, man_

_if only because, like, i feel like he couldn’t keep a secret to save his life. He would have gotten drunk and, y’know, fessed up to a supermodel by now_

“In the end, we’ll probably never truly know what happened in that warehouse in Ethiopia, whether it was really a botched ransom drop or something more mysterious. The media frenzy and high-profile nature of the case will likely forever hide the truth. Until then, the case remains… unsolved.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was fun to write, if a bit more difficult than the first one! Upcoming episodes will include _The Enduring Mystery of the Winter Soldier_ and _The Baffling Winchester Murder Spree_. Be sure to put any ideas for future episodes in the comments! 
> 
> Notes:  
> \- It was fun to write an episode whether neither of them were right in the end, though Ryan was closer  
> \- I have never read a Batman comic in my life
> 
> Bonus:
> 
> Dick Grayson, head humming with Red Bull and the concussion he hasn’t quite recovered from yet, was scrolling through his YouTube recommendations when a video caught his eyes and startled him abruptly back to full awareness.
> 
> He rubbed his eyes, looked again, swore softly, and then clicked on the thumbnail. 
> 
> —-
> 
> Bruce Wayne was rudely woken up at four AM when his bedroom door was kicked down and a phone shoved in his face, the video already playing.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Untimely Death of Jason Todd](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17533988) by [redarro](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redarro/pseuds/redarro)
  * [(that moment when) A Supehero Replies to You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561994) by [WithTheKeyIsKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithTheKeyIsKing/pseuds/WithTheKeyIsKing)




End file.
